B Explanatory
memorandum by Ms Roseira, rapporteur
“There are in fact many
European social models, and some are far better than others. The
evidence shows that countries that have been able to reform have
done well in the global marketplace and have sustained high levels
of social justice.” Anthony Giddens, “Europe in the Global Age”
(2008)
“It is precisely those European
countries with the most effective social protection systems and
with the most developed social partnership that are among the most
successful and competitive economies in the world.” José Manuel
Durão Barroso, former President of the European Commission
1 Introduction
1. Europe is at a crossroads, and it is time to decide
which path to follow. The financial, economic and social crisis
has been dominating the news since its outbreak in 2008. Austerity
measures continue to be implemented in many countries, poverty is
increasing in several European countries and economic inequalities are
widening. Austerity programmes have increasingly been questioned,
such as, for example, in Greece after the most recent elections
held in January 2015. In this context, one may ask what will happen
to Europe’s “social model”? Is there even such thing as a European
social model? And if it does, will it survive increasing economic
and social tensions? Or was the President of the European Central
Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, right in saying in 2012 that “[t]he European
social model has already gone”?
Note
2. It is evident that, in the crisis Europe has been confronted
with for the last few years, certain social rights and achievements
have suffered in many countries: working conditions have worsened,
individual and collective social rights have been restricted, public
and private salaries have been reduced and unemployment rates have
significantly increased, notably amongst the younger generation.
Experts from across the political spectrum are now discussing whether
the European social model has been irreversibly affected, changing
the socio-economic context and consolidating current inequalities
in the long run. Or are the recent changes simply necessary adaptations
of the European economy to the relatively young context of a globalised
economy? Is a new European social model emerging which could also
be an opportunity and a way out of the crisis?
3. The mission of the Council of Europe, organised around the
three pillars of rule of law, democracy and human rights, is closely
linked to the foundations of the European Social Model. The latter
implies the equal recognition of dignity in all human beings and
the achievement of this objective through organised solidarity. Putting
this model into practice has enabled remarkable progress in human
development indicators, closely connected to an economic growth
shared by many through the reduction of inequalities and the promotion
of inclusive societies. Its results are also deeply reflected in
measurable terms in various expressions of human activity and in
lasting peace in countries where it had a major impact.
4. The question of how to better integrate the key issues of
employment, social and other relevant public policies against a
background of a common set of values and in the face of current
economic challenges will be explored in this report. In my view,
and even if modernisation is needed to a certain extent in many
countries, solid social security systems concerning employment,
pensions and health care should be maintained, equal access for
all to decent jobs and education should be guaranteed, as well as
access provided to basic services (housing, water, sanitation, heating
etc.) – including specific measures for the most disadvantaged groups
of the population wherever appropriate. Europe must find a sustainable
path for its social model, which is respected worldwide, proposing
innovative approaches to face the challenges of today’s economic development
in a globalised world and a vision of a cohesive European society
placing human rights and dignity at its very centre.
2 Origins,
basic concepts and components of the European Social Model
2.1 Origins
5. The European Social Model (“ESM” hereafter) was developed
in different countries of Western Europe in the aftermath of the
Second World War where social protection systems and social dialogue
were set up and/or strengthened to avoid the social conflicts that
had characterised the previous inter-war period. During this period,
the ESM found normative expressions in the Treaty of Rome of 1957
and the European Social Charter (ETS No. 35) of 1961, which in its
revised version (ETS No. 163) of 1996 remains one of the main references
today, aimed at consolidating the ESM and at promoting the homogeneity
of social protection systems in Greater Europe. Very often, the
ESM also serves to distinguish European socio-economic approaches
(public services more or less universally available) from the American
approach (social objectives based more on individual responsibility).
6. At the end of the 20th century, the ESM had found different
expressions in various European regions, described by some analysts
as follows:
Note
- the Nordic social democratic
model (Finland, Norway and Sweden, plus the Netherlands), with the highest
levels of social protection expenditure and universal welfare provision;
- the continental model (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany
and Luxembourg), which assigned a strong place to labour law and
collective bargaining;
- the Anglo-Saxon liberal model (Ireland and the United
Kingdom), where strong emphasis was put on the role of markets,
with a small role for the State and a low degree of regulation;
- the Mediterranean model (Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain),Note in which old-age pensions were
a focus of public spending in its non-contributive component;
- the model conceived in the post-communist countries (namely
Eastern Europe), which have strived to achieve social protection
systems similar to those of Western welfare States.Note
7. Whilst this theoretical typology is certainly oversimplified
and was meant to serve as a description of ideal types, it still
reminds us of the different socio-economic traditions underlying
the ESM. In reality, empirical evidence has shown that those welfare
States which have adapted best to changing conditions have created “hybrid
models” borrowed in some part from elsewhere. This shows that mutual
learning has always been possible and useful.
Note
2.2 Definitions and
concepts
8. There is no official definition of the ESM, but European
welfare States and economies have always known a certain convergence
on joint principles. According to the latest research undertaken
by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the ESM builds upon
the following main pillars:
Note
- increased minimum rights on working conditions;
- universal and sustainable social protection systems;
- inclusive labour markets;
- strong and well-functioning social dialogue;
- public services and services of general interest;
- social inclusion and social cohesion.
9. Whilst the ILO concept is certainly very comprehensive and
policy-oriented, given that it allows for the measuring of the development
of specific indicators over longer time periods, it should not lead
us to restricting the ESM to social protection systems or labour
legislation. The ESM as a set of values shared across Europe is
more than that. It is a mixture of values, accomplishments and aspirations,
varying in form and degree of realisation among European States.
In this respect, I fully subscribe to Anthony Giddens broader definition
of the ESM as including:
- a
developed and interventionist State, funded by relatively high levels
of taxation;
- a robust welfare system, which provides effective social
protection, to some considerable degree to all citizens, with positive
discrimination to those most in need;
- the limitation, or containment, of economic or other forms
of inequality;
- a key role assigned to “social partners”, namely unions
and other agents promoting workers’ rights;
- a general set of underlying values, including: the wide
sharing of risks and opportunities across society, the cultivation
of social solidarity or cohesion, the protection of the most vulnerable
members of society through active social intervention, the encouragement
of consultation (instead of confrontation) in industry, and the
provision of a rich framework of social and economic citizenship
rights for the population as a whole.Note
10. Beyond this basic understanding, I would like to underline
that the ESM is not a static concept or the description of a status quo. With regard to more
general socio-economic challenges of the 21st century, the ESM itself
certainly needs to be adapted. In doing so, the various stakeholders
involved should not try to save traditional models and systems at
any cost, but – as indicated by the title of the present report
– turn “towards a new European Social Model” which is evidence-based
and values-driven.
2.3 Protection of the
ESM through European standards
11. From the foregoing definitions, we can see that individual
and collective social rights, social protection and benefits, labour
regulation and social dialogue are amongst the key components of
the European Social Model. Some of these rights are enshrined in
European or international, mostly legally binding texts. Europe therefore
disposes of a number of instruments to be referred to with the intention
of strengthening national legislation or developing targeted policies
protecting a future-oriented ESM.
12. For the Council of Europe, the European Social Charter, including
its original text of 1961, its amending and additional protocols
as well as the revised text of 1996, clearly constitutes the main
and most comprehensive standard. It comes along with a monitoring
mechanism ensured through the European Committee of Social Rights
(ECSR), including a system of collective complaints. The promotion
of these standards has most recently been declared a priority for
the Council of Europe, inter alia at
the High-level Conference on the European Social Charter held in
Turin on 17 and 18 October 2014.
13. At the level of the European Union, different treaties and
standards are meant to guarantee the respect of social rights in
European and national policies, building up to a pan-European mechanism.
Worth mentioning in this context are in particular: 1) the Charter
of Fundamental Rights of the European Union of 2000 containing social
rights provisions in various articles; next to the general right
to education, notably in chapter IV (“Solidarity”; Article 27 ff.),
developing collective and individual rights of workers, the reconciliation
of work and family life, as well as access to social security, social
assistance and health care; and 2) the Treaty on the Functioning
of the European Union of 2007 (TFEU) providing that EU policies
shall aim to eliminate inequalities, promote high levels of employment,
guarantee social protection, fight against social exclusion, ensure
access to high levels of education and training, and combat any
form of discrimination (Articles 8-10), and referring to a European
employment strategy and the role of social dialogue (Articles 145
to 150, 154 and 155).
Note
3 Challenges and
threats to the European Social Model
14. The current financial and economic crisis dominating
the European and global headlines since 2008 has often been referred
to as a serious threat to the ESM and its components, including
by the Parliamentary Assembly itself. Already in its
Resolution 1884 (2012) “Austerity measures – a danger for democracy and social rights”,
the Assembly called for “energetic measures in favour of economic
recovery” instead of persistent austerity, as well as for the protection
of the European Social Model. Recent evaluations of the situation
made by highly renowned experts have been clear: “The theory of
expansionary austerity has faced the test of experience and has
failed. Wherever austerity policies have been applied, recovery
from the crisis has been halted”;
NoteNote or “In effect, we have been transferring
money from the poor to the rich, from people who would spend the
money to people who do not need to spend the money, and the result
of that is weaker aggregate demand”
NoteNote – to quote just a few.
15. As rapporteur of the present report, I fully agree that the
crisis has affected us all, and in my own country, Portugal, this
was certainly felt by many in recent years. However, I do not believe
that the present crisis is the only challenge for the ESM, which
faces various more deeply rooted problems. These are related to
global socio-economic evolutions which started well back in the
20th century, and which pose serious problems today because many
of our countries have not adapted to them quickly or effectively
enough, and European mechanisms to deal with issues related to the
Eurozone and globalisation were neither completed nor effective. Furthermore,
at the beginning of the 21st century, new challenges were added
which may require even more transversal and innovative response
by public policies than ever before and which may lead us to question
the basic values of our current lifestyles.
3.1 General socio-economic
challenges to be addressed
16. There is a broad consensus amongst analysts and decision-makers
that the ESM has been under great strain over the past decade –
for various reasons, which we could summarise as follows:
- external factors, such as the
collapse of the bipolar world marked by the post-war geopolitical
divide, accelerated globalisation, the development of a global information
society, shrinking manufacturing sectors (inter
alia due to transfers to less developed countries);
- endogenous structural changes in Europe, including demographic
trends towards an ageing population and low birth rates, the infiltration
of communication and information technologies into all economic
and social spheres, the de-industrialisation of Europe, the transformation
of family structures and increased migration;
- at the level of societal values, the rise of new forms
of individualism and consumerism.Note
17. These trends have also been observed by economic stakeholders,
such as the European employers,
Note who
regularly claim that high levels of unemployment in Europe are not
only caused by the crisis but have been a long-standing feature
and structural weakness of European labour markets. The employers
are furthermore convinced that the main structural weaknesses within
the European Union to be overcome (as a cause of the lack of global
competitiveness) are non-wage labour costs, rigid industrial relations
systems, and a general mismatch between people’s qualifications
and labour market requirements.
18. Accordingly, employers in many countries across Europe regularly
call for more flexible measures for creating employment in times
of low economic growth, and more investment in education and training
systems. Although, against the background of my experience in Portugal
where many young people today are confined to precarious, low-paid
and part-time jobs, I do not agree that ever more job flexibility
will help us address the challenge of long-term unemployment and
equal opportunities for the young generation, I fully agree that education
and training will be key in addressing current economic challenges.
19. An important contribution to this debate has been made by
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
in recent years. Already in 2008, the organisation had shown that,
in previous years, the gap between the rich and the poor had been
increasing in most of its member countries (up to a ratio of 1:9 between
the incomes of the poorest and the richest), even in traditionally
egalitarian countries such as Denmark, Germany or Sweden (ratio
of 1:6 in 2011).
20. Even though the crisis has certainly added some urgency to
deal with inequalities, the root causes are to be seen elsewhere.
One of the lines of “cause and effect” as perceived by the OECD
starts with technological progress and information technologies.
Whilst being motors of economic growth, they also led to the fact
that better-educated, higher earning workers often benefited from
higher incomes while lower-skilled workers were regularly left behind,
even more so in flexibilised labour markets. This trend contributed
to a greater strain on social protection systems (to support those
in need), which were, at the same time, contained by tighter rules caused
by austerity measures and thus had lower redistributive effects.
The OECD therefore suggests two strands of action to overcome persistent
inequalities: 1) upskilling the workforce through training and education (starting
with early-childhood education); and 2) redistribution through the
reform of tax and benefit policies (notably by improving tax compliance
and reassessing taxes on property and wealth, including the transfer
of assets).
Note
21. As late as June 2014, the OECD in its regular income equality
update noted that “well into the recovery from the global economic
crisis, the distribution of pre-tax and transfer income remains
significantly more unequal than it was before”. In its analysis,
the organisation furthermore stated that the income of the poorest 10%
of the population had continued to decline or to increase less than
that of the richest 10%, whilst a long-term pattern already observed
before intensified: youth had replaced the elderly as the group
experiencing the greater risk of income poverty.
Note This
once again shows, in my view, that the issue of youth employment
will be a crucial one in the upcoming years.
22. More recently, in December 2014, the OECD provided further
evidence of the fact that inequality hurts economic growth.
Note In its Yearbook 2014, the OECD
focuses on inclusive growth, jobs and trust, notably calling for
support to the young generation, for continuous integration of the
elderly into labour markets, and for measures aimed at renewing
confidence in public finance systems (through fighting corruption
and establishing fair fiscal systems).
Note
23. With a view to developments expected to have a positive impact
on economic growth, the ILO has also recently shown that the elderly
can be an asset, and encourages policies enticing the elderly to
stay in their jobs for longer. Economies that have a labour force
that is older than average are likely to have accelerations in growth
due to older people’s greater experience and capacity of judgment.
To address challenges linked to a shrinking working population (due
to higher numbers of non-active elderly), however, employing more
women is seen by the ILO as a key solution.
NoteNote
3.2 The impact of the
current crisis on the ESM
24. The ILO, in co-operation with the European Commission,
has undertaken comprehensive and in-depth research on the effects
of the crisis and related austerity policies on the six pillars
of the ESM: 1) increased minimum rights on working conditions; 2)
inclusive labour markets with quality jobs and decent wages; 3) universal
and sustainable social protection systems; 4) strong social dialogue;
5) public services; and 6) social cohesion and inclusion.
Note
25. In this framework, the ILO notably found that, in the early
years of the crisis and in certain countries, the ESM had still
worked thanks to certain “automatic stabilisers” in place, such
as increased social expenditure to cushion the social effects of
the economic shock, or social dialogue to limit layoffs and unemployment. Countries
with less well performing social welfare or dialogue systems, such
as some of the new European Union member States (including central
and eastern European countries) had often encountered immediate and
massive layoffs.
26. In the second phase of the crisis, however, austerity packages
were made compulsory across Europe and budgetary considerations
led to the revision of social policies in most countries. Whilst
the pressure was strongest on countries where budgetary deficits
were the highest, many countries had noted the effects of austerity
programmes on all six pillars of the ESM.
27. Amongst the direct effects of the changes, the ILO has notably
observed trends towards poorer working conditions (insecure contracts
and workplace degradation) and an increase in low wages, poverty
and inequality (in particular for households which were poor already).
Social deficiencies also increasingly affected the middle class,
which saw its income reduced in many countries and had reduced access
to educational and/or health services; this was particularly worrying
in the sense that the middle class had always been an important
source of funding for social security systems.
Note Poverty became an extended phenomenon
(20% or more of the population) and severe deprivation clearly increased.
28. Further economic effects also representing obstacles for recovery
were: reduced household consumption, lower motivation and productivity,
increased social conflicts and historic unemployment rates, once
again especially amongst young people. Amongst the policy issues
identified as topical with a view to preserving the ESM were: structural
adjustments in the labour markets; the need for more balanced policies; the
distinction of changes required for reasons of sustainability (pension-system
reforms for example) and those imposed by budgetary conditions;
the “social acquis” to be “regained”; and a reinforced role for
national and European actors.
Note
29. It has become evident that, under the pressure of the crisis,
trade unions have lost influence and collective bargaining agreements
have been undermined in several countries, as also shown in the
report leading up to
Resolution
2033 (2015) on the protection of the right to bargain collectively,
including the right to strike, adopted by the Assembly only in January
2015. Part-time and temporary work were no longer exceptional measures
applied to overcome difficult times, but increasingly applied as
general, long-term measures. On several occasions in past years,
the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) therefore called for
a “social contract for Europe”, which would trigger social progress
in the whole of the European Union by balancing the effect of current
austerity policies. A roadmap on the social dimension should effectively address
ethically charged issues such as inequalities, poverty, unemployment
and precarious work, as essential preconditions to sustainable economic
governance.
Note As the President of Ireland, Michael
D. Higgins, reminded us on the occasion of the first part of the
2015 Ordinary Session of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association
(CEPA),
Note ethics are essential in deliberating
on economic matters.
30. Other observers of the crisis have even sounded the alarm
that the current crisis could become one of democracy: current developments
in Europe could undermine its democratic achievements in pursuit
of a “perverse economic dogma”, based on continuous austerity programmes
where economic stimulation was needed. Whilst, in the post-war period,
a cross-party political consensus had led to the setting up of safety-net programmes
in many countries, reducing poverty and inequality and enhancing
living standards for many, political consensus and social contracts
were now perceived as being shredded and leading to a deepening governance
crisis in many States, amongst others characterised by the increase
of protest votes for populist and extremist movements.
Note
3.3 The ESM: a way
out of the economic crisis?
31. According to the European Commission, the transmission
of recent economic shocks to employment and income was smaller,
thus resilience greater, in countries which had more open and less
segmented labour markets, more efficient social-protection systems,
greater availability and use of short-time working arrangements,
stronger investment in lifelong learning, as well as widely available
unemployment and other social benefits responsive to economic cycles.
NoteNote This shows that the ESM, or at
least some of its key components, can serve as factors of resilience
and cornerstones on the way out of the crisis.
32. Looking at Europe’s socio-economic history and development
patterns, this may also be illustrated through the outstanding success
of some EU States, both in economic and social terms: Around the
turn of the century, the most impressive in terms of performance
were Denmark, Finland and Sweden, which generated higher growth
rates than for example Germany, France or Italy. Amongst the main
features of success were said to be their “patterns of social investment”.
These included, amongst others, major investments into innovative
technologies, both through research and education, the introduction
of elements of “flexicurity” into their labour markets, and the
promotion of family-friendly policies, thus strong investment into
children and empowering the female workforce.
Note
33. I am not convinced that all measures applied in the Nordic
countries can be “exported” as such to other countries. I am nevertheless
of the opinion that politicians and other stakeholders should take
these examples, and other more recent good practices, as sources
of inspiration for future social policies. The European exchange
of good practice in this field, including via parliamentary fora
such as our Assembly, needs to be continued and fostered.
34. With regard to the social dimension of the European Union
in particular, researchers are also calling for new approaches,
including the acknowledgement “that we are facing economic and public
financing problems and not problems that are the result of ‘overextended’
welfare States in the European Union” and that “if welfare States
and social cohesion within the Eurozone are not viable in bad times,
we have a big problem with the legitimacy of European integration”;
the main question perceived here is whether great solidarity within
the European Union, [cutting] across nation States can be politically
achieved.
Note
35. Yet others underline that a new proposal for a Social Europe
must be associated with a rapid exit from the recession and a decrease
in unemployment, promoting the idea of a European minimum wage (to
vary from one country to the other) as a “bulwark” against deflation.
Note The most daring approach even suggests
the introduction of a Europe-wide guaranteed minimum income, to
be dealt with by a new “EU agency for full employment”, proposed
to be financed through pension funds or employment bonds issued
by the European Central Bank (ECB), based on an extended statute
for the latter.
Note Such specific and far-reaching
approaches, and others, will have to be considered in more depth
and negotiated between and within member States in the process towards
a future European Social Model.
36. In its Europe 2020 strategy, the European Union defines the
overall aim of delivering growth that is smart (through more effective
investments in education, research and innovation), sustainable
(thanks to a decisive move towards a low-carbon economy) and inclusive
(with an emphasis on job creation and poverty reduction), by focusing
on five main goals in the areas of employment, innovation, education,
poverty reduction and climate/energy.
NoteNote Or as the European Union Commissioner
László Andor affirmed in 2013: “By investing in our citizens – to
develop their skills and capabilities and ensure their adequate
livelihoods – we will be better equipped to emerge out of the crisis
stronger, more cohesive, and more competitive in the long run.”
Note
37. The European Social Model is not a concept of the past, it
is an overall set of social rights and values, some of which have
helped us through the most recent crisis (whilst other rights have
suffered), and which will also be a safeguard against future economic
crises. However, it has become evident that, in the current, global socio-economic
context, the ESM itself needs some “modernising”, and that a new
political and social consensus is needed. Only a renewed European
Social Model will effectively address some of the major socio-economic
challenges of the 21st century. Without wishing to “invent” an entirely
new socio-economic model here, I wish to point to some of the crucial
intervention and priority measures required to reduce inequalities
in a new demographic and globalised context and to develop modern
and sustainable welfare States following the principle of shared
responsibilities.
4 “Towards a new
European Social Model”: a new vision and steps towards it
38. A new shared vision of the European Social Model
can only be a collective one and it will have to be the result of
a negotiation process between different socio-economic stakeholders,
including political parties, public authorities, social partners
and civil society. Given that there has never been the one ESM,
but many models across Europe, new visions will certainly have to
be adapted to different countries, taking into consideration not only
the society that people want to shape in a given country, but also
what is feasible in a given economic context.
39. Nevertheless, I would like to share my own personal vision
of a new ESM. It partly corresponds to the ILO definition provided
above and would therefore include – in my own words – equal access
for all to employment, to decent working conditions, to social protection
systems and to public services, including education and health care,
with the objective of overcoming or at least minimising inequalities
at various levels in the medium term. It would also include special
support to those in need of special protection, including children,
the young people, the elderly, and those regularly discriminated
against, including people with disabilities, ethnic minorities and
migrants. A European societal model should uphold humanist values
like social inclusion, cohesion and solidarity.
40. In an ideal world, services provided by modern welfare States
would be organised in a fully sustainable manner, ensuring that
we do not live at the expense of future generations. In the long
run, this also means that related challenges, such as environmental
protection and climate change or migration policies, should be looked
at more closely by all European societies at some point; however,
these issues will not be further developed here so as not to exceed
the scope of the present report.
41. In the medium term, sustainable welfare systems require rebuilding
public trust in public finances by fighting corruption or tax evasion
and by revising modes of redistribution, for example by re-assessing
taxes on property and wealth (often the main sources of revenue
of high-income classes). In this respect, even the European Union
has recently been calling for “tax reforms that reconcile efficiency
and equity concerns”, notably calling for a critical look at high
labour taxation (as a possible obstacle to job creation) and for
fighting tax evasion (as a positive contribution to employment and
social policies).
Note
42. Another crucial issue of sustainable welfare systems will
be the area of health policies. Public (and individual) health is
not only a guarantee of workers’ productivity and well-being, but
also a source of new jobs and income.
Note Furthermore,
the sustainability of health systems themselves needs to be ensured,
notably in times of scarce financial resources, to continue providing
universal access to good quality health care to all. Active social
inclusion strategies should therefore include broad access to affordable
and high-level health services as also being asked for by the European
Commission.
Note
43. Employment, however, must be a key issue for policy-makers
in the design and implementation of European and national policies
in the face of the crisis. Employment is not only a source of personal
income and satisfaction, but fosters social inclusion and cohesion
across society as a whole. Or once again as Anthony Giddens puts
it in his book “Europe in the Global Age”: “Having a decent job
is the best route out of poverty.”
Note
44. A special emphasis needs to be put on the issue of youth employment,
given that in most countries struck by the current crisis, young
people find it particularly hard to enter the labour market at all
or to find decent employment. Both the issues of decent jobs and
youth unemployment have already been addressed by the Parliamentary
Assembly in recent texts which already point to some of the essential
measures to be taken.
Note At EU level,
the “Youth Guarantee” scheme, adopted in 2013 and implemented as
of 2015, is a step in the right direction, but it needs to be ensured
that national governments also deploy sufficient resources to make
this new approach work.
Note
45. In conclusion and without being more expansive: Europe should
be in the front line of those marching ahead, not only in reforming
and sharpening its socio-economic policies, but also when it comes
to proposing alternative and more sustainable societal values. Efforts
are being made by different international organisations and governments
to develop new paradigms for defining and measuring economic and
social well-being.
Note Once
again, the Assembly itself has already worked on this issue extensively
whilst preparing
Resolution
2023 (2014) on measuring and fostering the well-being of European
citizens (see also
Doc. 13539). Further research on economic behaviour, happiness,
well-being and sustainable growth gives insights into possible paths
which do not contradict the ESM. Let us keep in mind that the legitimacy
of politics comes from the people and let us continue to work towards
the common good.
46. In terms of new visions for the ESM, economic growth should
not be the only and exclusive recipe towards for equality and well-being
for all. In terms of truly sustainable development, I am convinced
that we do need to question our current growth ideology at some
point, even where it appears in the guise of “smart, sustainable
and inclusive growth”.
5 Conclusions
and recommendations
47. The topic of the present report is vast and it could
almost result in an attempt to provide a path for the future evolution
of European societies and their socio-economic functioning as such.
As this is not a realistic objective, I suggest that the Parliamentary
Assembly concentrates on key recommendations, aimed at renewing
and strengthening the ESM with regard to the most urgent challenges.
48. As regards the levels of intervention required, as resulting
from some of the challenges outlined above, and to the most urgent
measures to be taken to overcome current inequalities, I see,
inter alia, the need for the following
lines of action (to be recommended to Council of Europe member States):
- Social rights at European and
national levels:
- ensure the
compatibility of new policy measures with individual and collective
social rights, in particular by consulting in advance national human
rights institutions;
- strengthen the implementation of social rights by reinforcing
supervisory mechanisms, including by ratifying the Amending Protocol
to the European Social Charter and its Additional Protocol Providing
for a System of Collective Complaints;
- Socio-economic policies:
- develop and implement comprehensive strategies to fight
child poverty and to promote youth employment, notably addressing
current difficulties for young people entering the labour market;
- continue to empower women and to integrate them into the
labour market thanks to the provision of affordable, reliable and
high-quality child-care services;
- implement innovative ways of keeping the elderly in employment
in an ageing society (for example through flexible part-time models,
mentorship, etc.);
- develop and implement specific employment strategies for
the inclusion of groups which are regularly subject to discrimination
(ethnic minorities, migrants, the disabled);
- provide incentives or directly invest in new activities
for increased job creation (such as renewable energies, digital
technology infrastructures or innovative health and social services);
- Educational and training policies:
- develop educational policies and systems aimed at creating
equal opportunities from an early age onwards (to break “cycles
of disadvantage” through early intervention), and including strategies of
life-long learning;
- ensure professional training and continuous professional
education in line with the latest “state of the art” technological
progress (digital technologies, biotechnologies, etc.);
- strengthen education systems having proved successful
in certain national contexts (for example “dual systems” combining
training “on the job” and academic teaching);
- orient young people in their transition between educational
systems and the labour market to overcome mismatches between available
profiles and jobs, and favour entrepreneurship;
- Fiscal legislation and taxation policies:
- strengthen the redistributive
effects of taxation systems through relevant reforms (notably re-assessing
taxes on property and wealth and taxes on financial transactions);
- improve tax compliance by fighting tax evasion and the
use of tax havens, and redirect the revenues to social and economic
investments, thus creating quality employment opportunities;
- Budget allocation for social protection systems and social
benefits:
- improve the sustainability
of social protection systems, including by ensuring that social
benefits are provided in a targeted manner;
- guarantee good governance of social benefit systems and
fight any form of corruption to maximise the redistributive effects
of these systems;
- Public services and investment:
- redirect savings resulting from other measures to “social
investment” policies with an emphasis on new types of infrastructure
and services (including renewable energies, digital technologies and
innovative health care and prevention);
- modernise the provision of public services using new digital
technologies, developing citizens’ capacities in this respect and
decentralising policymaking, while ensuring universal access to these
services.
49. To conclude: it is certain and evident that the new European
Social Model is not something that can be achieved overnight. Achieving
it is a process striving for a new European consensus on social
rights and minimum standards to be guaranteed, on social dialogue
and democratic processes to be ensured in every sphere of society,
including in economic relations and decision-making, and on values
of solidarity and cohesion to be preserved as the guiding principles
of socio-economic policies. Relevant decisions must be taken via
the usual democratic procedures and votes. There is a large consensus
amongst Europeans today that protection against poverty and reduced
levels of income equality are important dimensions of democracy,
Note thus core components of the Council
of Europe’s ambition for Europe.
50. Any public and private action to be taken in Europe today
should always be guided by a common vision of shared responsibilities,
equal opportunities for all from an early age onwards coupled with
strong social security systems and fair levels of redistribution.
However, such a model needs to be sustainable as Anthony Giddens
reminds us,
Note which is why Europe should move
on from the traditional welfare State to the social investment State
or positive welfare, promoting education and skills, prosperity,
active life choice and social and economic participation. Whilst
the classical welfare State was more of a risk management system,
the social investment State should better anticipate developments
and find a new balance between individual responsibilities and contributions
and State intervention, without neglecting its function of providing
social protection and stabilising the economy. As the European Social
Protection Committee recently argued
Note: “Now is the time to build adequate,
effective social protection systems that combine a strong social
investment dimension with better protection.”
